


Cause You Know You're My Operator

by Moonlightkitten



Series: Pride Month 2018 [2]
Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: And it's 20GayTeen everyone, Basically just a Jiya/Lucy centric fic, Because let's face it Jucy is cute, Bisexual!Jiya, Bisexual!Lucy, Crack Treated Seriously, F/F, Fluff, Lots of Doctor Who references, Oops is my gay showing, With other background relationships, Wyatt kinda gets the short end of the stick sorry, doctor who - Freeform, happy pride month everybody
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 23:26:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14820927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonlightkitten/pseuds/Moonlightkitten
Summary: The time team mistakenly leaves a Doctor Who CD collection lying around at the Stanford Library, and returns to find that the present has changed. A lot.





	Cause You Know You're My Operator

**Author's Note:**

> Title is a Hayley Kiyoko lyric because I'm gay. Set sometime after Hollywoodland but before the finale.

“I’m just  _ telling  _ you that we shouldn’t have left those Doctor Who CDs lying around at the Stanford library!” 

 

“Okay, I agree that it wasn’t ideal, Lucy,” said Rufus, sighing regretfully. He pressed a few switches on the Lifeboat’s control panel. “I mean, they’re first edition,  _ priceless _ , but it’s not exactly as though we had enough time to go back and  _ get  _ them.” 

 

“That’s not what I meant,” grumbled Lucy, swatting away Wyatt’s hands as he attempted to help her adjust her seatbelt. “I spent a  _ lot  _ of time at that library--I mean, even before I taught there, I was a student. I don’t give a damn about the stupid show itself, I’ve never even seen it, but what if I get a hold on them, realize they’re from the future, and, I don’t know, it  _ changes  _ something?”

 

Flynn chuckled. “Right, as though some stupid British TV show is going to dramatically alter history. Give me a break, Lucy.” 

 

“Hey,” hissed Rufus, affronted. “Jiya’s a huge fan of it _.  _ It’s why she got into time travel work in the first place. Don’t talk that way about it in front of her. And  _ definitely  _ don’t mention you lost her entire collection of old  _ and  _ new Who, including Season 11, which  _ isn’t on Amazon Prime yet,  _ unless you want to end up with cyanide in your coffee or something.” 

 

Lucy rolled her eyes. “No offense, but you two are such geeks sometimes.” 

 

The Lifeboat lurched into flight, and she sighed, slumping back into her chair. “It sounds like such a stupid show, honestly, compared to our actual  _ lives.  _ I mean, aliens? A super old guy that changes faces? Really?” 

 

“Well, she’s a woman sometimes too,” said Rufus, pulling a lever to the side as they came to a stop. “I don't know. I’ve seen some of it with Jiya-- I mean, I prefer Star Trek, but what can you do? Anyway,  maybe you should watch it with her sometime. Bonding and all that. I bet you’d like it.” 

 

“Doubt that,” she huffed. With deft fingers, she unstrapped herself and crawled over to the door. Agent Christopher, Jessica, Mason, and Jiya were all waiting anxiously outside, their hair still blowing in the gust created by the Lifeboat’s landing. “Hey guys. We managed to get the sleeper and didn’t change much. Anything happen while we were gone?” 

 

“Nothing major,” said Jiya, rushing over to help Lucy down, “But you were gone for so long, honey! We were all worried!”

 

Lucy raised an eyebrow at her use of the pet name, wondering briefly if she was actually talking to Rufus, but then Jiya suddenly pulled her in for a fervent kiss.  _ Wait, what?  _ She barely had time to react as the other woman’s lips met hers, confusion flashing through her (and a bit of a thrill, yes, but mostly  _ what?)  _ as she struggled, finally letting her hands rest gently at Jiya’s hips. It was so unexpected that she didn’t exactly have the presence of mind to pull away, just stood there bug-eyed as Jiya stroked her hair.

 

Finally, Rufus cleared his throat behind them. “Uh, sorry,  _ what’s going on?”  _

 

Jiya broke away and glanced up at the three boys, who were standing frozen at the entrance to the Lifeboat, looking rather… shell-shocked. “Oh, take a picture, it’ll last longer,” she snapped. “What, I’m suddenly not allowed to kiss my fiancee in public?” 

 

Lucy gaped. “F--fiancee?” 

 

The other woman’s face dropped, backing away. “Wait, are we…  _ not engaged  _ in your timeline?” 

 

“Well, no, not exactly,” interrupted Rufus, raising his eyebrows. “Actually, in our timeline, you’re dating  _ me.”  _

 

“Yeah,” chimed in a stuttering Lucy. “I mean, you’re my friend, I would love to-- I mean, I… well, I never wanted to get in the way of you and Rufus-- I mean… I don’t even know you  _ that  _ well.” 

 

“Lucy!” hissed Wyatt, looking horrified. “You-- you’re a  _ lesbian _ ?” He almost spat out the word, and Agent Christopher placed her hands defensively on her hips. Seeing the expression on her face, he quickly corrected himself. “I mean, I’m not against it at all or anything, but you, you never told me? I thought you were into  _ me! _ ”

 

“Oh, hi, Jessica, good to see you,” said Flynn, smirking. “Look, Wyatt, there’s your  _ wife  _ over there. Isn’t that nice?” 

 

Jessica folded her arms while Lucy hissed, “Both of you guys, stay. out. of. this. Honestly, you’re like two year olds.”

 

She turned to Jiya, who was looking more crestfallen by the moment. “Uh, I’m sorry, I know how hard this must be for you, Jiya… Look, can you tell us how the two of us, uh, got together so we can… fix this and bring  _ your  _ version of Lucy back to you?”

 

Jiya’s eyes widened. “Well, I mean, we’ve been dating since practically the beginning.” At Lucy’s blank stare, she continued, “Remember? The first day we met, I mentioned that I liked Doctor Who, and you started squealing about how much you liked it--”

 

“Oh, right,” snorted Flynn. Jiya bestowed her signature death glare on him. 

 

“--and then I offered to bring you over to my place so we could watch the Season 8 finale, which I hadn’t seen yet, and you mentioned you had a collection that went all the way to Season 11. We figured it must have been some kind of time travel anachronism side effect, so we binged it together, and that night you kissed me, and ever since then… honey, don’t you remember  _ any  _ of this?” 

 

Lucy shook her head, heart sinking at Jiya’s heartbroken expression. “Uh, I’ve never actually  _ seen  _ Doctor Who.” She turned to the other team members. “See? I  _ told  _ you we shouldn’t have left that collection at the library! Past Me must’ve found it at some point.” 

 

Wyatt inhaled sharply. “So literally the only thing that prevented you from getting with  _ Jiya  _ this whole time was… Doctor Who?”  

 

“Hey, it’s a good show,” said Rufus defensively. “Although… I agree with Wyatt that the consequences of Lucy being a Whovian  _ are  _ a little extreme. Wow.” 

 

Flynn coughed. “You know, we  _ could  _ just go back and retrieve the CDs before Lucy ever gets her hands on them.” 

 

The other men nodded, but Agent Christopher just huffed. “Absolutely not. No using the time machine for personal purposes.”

 

“Wait, wait,” said Jiya, shaking her head. “But that would mean this timeline would… would  _ cease to exist,  _ right? I’d never get my Lucy back.” 

 

She looked terrified at the prospect, and Lucy laid a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. 

 

“Actually,” piped up Rufus, who appeared to be completing some mental mathematical calculations. “I’m pretty sure that we would just switch places with  _ your  _ version of the time team. We’d be restored to our correct timeline, and they’d go back to yours.” 

 

“Really?” whispered Jiya hopefully. “Rufus,  _ please  _ tell me that’s true, because I refuse to lose my wife.” 

 

“Fiancee,” grumbled Wyatt.

 

“Shut  _ up!”  _ both women hissed, turning to him. 

 

Rufus squinted. “Actually, yeah, I  _ am  _ sure, because according to the fundamental laws of multiverse theory…” He then proceeded to go on a several minute rant too technical for any of them to follow, but Jiya seemed satisfied, nodding along. 

 

After a few moments, she exhaled shakily. “Alright, I guess I’m convinced. Lucy, honey, please come back to me safe.” 

 

“I will,” Lucy promised, pulling her into a tight hug. “The  _ right  _ version of me will. Oh, Jiya, I’m so sorry I’m not that person.” 

 

“It’s okay, darling. I’ll love you no matter who you are. Even if you don’t love me back,” Jiya whispered softly. Then her face broke into a tiny, wicked grin. “Though I’m sure you still check me out occasionally in your timeline.” 

 

“You’re not wrong,” said Lucy, giggling as she patted the other woman’s back. 

 

“Hey!” hissed Wyatt, while the other two boys just rolled their eyes. Jessica raised a skeptical eyebrow at her husband, who stilled, glancing away. 

 

“Well, now that that’s cleared up, can we go?” said Flynn after a moment, still hovering awkwardly at the top of the ladder. 

 

“That okay with you?” murmured Lucy, pulling gently away from Jiya’s arms. 

 

She nodded with a sad smile. “Get home safe, sweetie, alright?” 

 

“I will,” she promised, beginning to turn back to the Lifeboat. “And, hey, best of luck with your wedding. I’m sure you two will be very happy together.” 

*********

 

“Okay, you were right,” conceded Flynn grudgingly as he strapped himself back into the Lifeboat. “Doctor Who  _ did  _ have a pretty damn big impact on you.”

 

“Maybe I should start watching it,” said Lucy thoughtfully. “So few good shows out there today.” 

 

“I really like Timemore,” commented Rufus casually, typing the coordinates of Stanford Library into the console. “It’s an NBC show about time travel. Sort of in hiatus, though. Nobody knows whether it’s going to be renewed for Season 3 or not.” 

 

“Okay, hold on,” said Wyatt, spluttering. “So  _ nobody  _ but me is bothered by this?”

 

Everyone shrugged. 

 

“Guys!” insisted the soldier. “Lucy’s  _ gay--”  _

 

“Bi,” interrupted Lucy, crossing her arms. 

 

“Whatever. Bi is basically just shy gay. Anyway--” 

 

“No, it’s not,” said everyone else in unison. 

 

“It’s  _ really  _ not,” Rufus said, glaring at Wyatt. “I mean, I’m pan--” 

 

“--And I’m bisexual myself,” Flynn added as the Lifeboat took off. “It’s not the same thing as being gay, so  _ please  _ just don’t make comments on things you don’t understand.” 

 

Wyatt looked more confused, if anything. “So, I’ve basically been living with a bunch of-- never mind. Seriously, is  _ nobody else bothered?  _ Rufus, aren’t you at least jealous?” 

 

“No,” said Rufus, shrugging. “That Jiya was part of a different timeline. Her circumstances and experiences are different than our Jiya’s are. The important thing to me is that  _ my  _ Jiya loves me, and it doesn’t bother me that things could have turned out differently. I mean, I don’t really believe in fate or whatever. My Jiya  _ chose  _ me, and the other Jiya chose Lucy. Both of them are very happy, and I’m happy for them. I think that’s pretty special.” 

 

“Right,” agreed Lucy. “Like, if I wanted, I could date Wyatt--” The soldier smirked a bit-- “Which I don’t, by the way. But I could just as easily choose Flynn. I’m sure that both of those timelines exist.” 

 

“You could probably also choose both,” commented Rufus with a knowing glance. Wyatt was looking more horrified by the minute. 

 

Lucy snorted. “Yeah, or  _ neither _ , which is kind of the way I’m swinging right now.” 

 

“You just choose what makes you happy, Lucy,” said Flynn with a small smile. “Even if that’s someone completely different. Like Josephine Baker.”

 

“I wish, but she’s in a different century, so that’s a little difficult. That was a one-night thing only.” 

 

Wyatt frowned. “Wait,  _ what?”  _

 

***************************************************************

 

A few seconds after it had left, the Lifeboat landed with a crash. The door opened and Lucy flew out of it at a practically inhuman speed. 

 

“Oh, Jiya,” she cried, flinging herself into her fiancee's arms, “God, I missed you, sweetheart. It was horrible. We just visited a timeline where--” 

 

“Where you hadn’t seen Doctor Who,” whispered Jiya reassuringly. “I know, darling, it’s a terrifying prospect.” 

 

“Oh, come on,” laughed Lucy, pulling her closer. “I was mostly upset about the fact that you were dating  _ Rufus,  _ not me.” 

 

“Well, that too,” Jiya giggled, kissing her softly on the nose. “Don’t worry, I’m here now, and I love you, honey.” 

 

Mason made a gagging noise behind them. “Honestly, just because your wedding is in a month, do you two  _ always  _ have to be so lovey-dovey--” 

 

Agent Christopher shushed him. “Hey, if not for that _ lovey-doveyness _ , I wouldn’t be with  _ my  _ wife. Give it a rest already. They’re cute.”

 

Given that they couldn’t exactly leave the bunker, the wedding was conducted inside of the warehouse area a month later, officiated by a smiling Rufus. Their vows were a reenactment of the ending of  _ The Wedding of River Song.  _ Because really, thought Lucy as she happily kissed her bride, why not?

 

**Author's Note:**

> I really ship Garcy. And Riya. And Jucy. And as you can see, that's a little problematic, since they're sort of mutually exclusive. So I figured an alternate timeline would do the trick. Also, I'm not super used to writing girl x girl, because, despite being a lesbian myself, I, um, suck at pronoun ambiguity, so it's really just easier for my poor tiny brain to write straight fic. 
> 
> Also, just so you know, the first thing that (our) time team did when they got back to their timeline was to sit Wyatt down with a whiteboard and teach him some stuff.
> 
> Comments=Love


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